1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illuminating system for a camera using a light emitting diode (LED), and more particularly, to an illuminating system for a camera in which a LED is used as a light source illuminating an area according to an angle of view of the camera for stroboscopy.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, with the development of small digital cameras, portable electronic devices integrated with small digital cameras, such as mobile phones, MP3 players, portable digital assistants (PDAs), etc., have become commercially available.
Conventional digital cameras with 300,000 pixels to millions of pixels are under development to satisfy a customer's desire for high performance digital cameras with more pixels. In addition, there is a need to develop an illuminating system including a LED light source for stroboscopic photography.
An illuminating system for a camera developed to comply with such a requirement is disclosed in the Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-252469 (entitled “Camera-integrated Mobile Phone”, published Sep. 9, 2004). In the illuminating apparatus, light emitted from an LED is illuminated using a spherical lens, an aspherical lens, or a Fresnel lens over an area separated by a predetermined distance according to an angle of view of the camera. However, due to a structural limitation of the lens used in the illuminating system, it is difficult to illuminate the entire area with a uniform brightness.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-287357 (entitled “Fly-eye lens for camera strobo built in mobile phone”, published Oct. 14, 2004) discloses an illuminating system. The illuminating system includes a fly-eye lens in front of an LED. However, due to low light condensing efficiency, it is difficult to obtain a desired brightness.